ST. LOUIS, April 24, 2012 -- The Saint Louis Zoo's Center for American Burying Beetle Conservation; the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; the Missouri Department of Conservation; and The Nature Conservancy are reintroducing up to 600 Zoo-bred American burying beetles -- for the first time ever in Missouri -- beginning in June in locations across the 4,040-acre Wah' Kon-Tah Prairie in Southwest Missouri. The American burying beetle was the nation's first insect species ever to be designated as endangered.The reintroduction site in St. Clair and Cedar counties is jointly owned and managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation and The Nature Conservancy.

For the June reintroduction in Missouri, a special designation was sought from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, which has authority over the nearly 7,000 captive beetles the Zoo has bred since 2005. The waiting period for that designation ended April 23; today the designation is officially approved. It helps provide assurance to nearby private landowners that the presence of this protected species will not affect farming and other activities.